The Commission for Gender Equality has raised concerns over the significant decline in women’s representation in the 2024 National and Provincial Elections.

This has been revealed in one of the four reports the commission is launching in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Saturday.

As South Africa prepares for local government elections next year, the commission has urged political parties to reflect on the underlying factors discouraging women from entering the political arena.

Commission CEO Dennis Matotoka says, “We are saying in this day and age, from 1994 to 2024, we have seen an increase in terms of the reduction of women’s representation.”

“We should be deliberate in ensuring that there is adequate representation there. Where there is no equitable representation, intention should be there to reject such parties. Where there is women’s representation and local government, again, there must be that deliberate intention that women must be adequately represented, otherwise we’ll have a problem.”